


shed your skin

by owlinaminor



Series: thorbruce week 2k18 [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Nudity, ThorBruce Week, nudity but it's still mostly PG? you'll get it when you read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlinaminor/pseuds/owlinaminor
Summary: Bruce takes a few more steps along the dam, close enough to the hikers that he can see the way Tall And Handsome’s cargo shorts lay low on his hips…focus, Banner.  Focus.He takes a deep breath, cups his hands around his mouth, and shouts:“Hey!  How do you feel about casual nudity?”





	shed your skin

**Author's Note:**

> for thorbruce week day six: au. for lack of a concise ao3 tag, let's call this a "summer field work in the forest that involves bushwhacking through swamps in weather so hot it should be illegal and meeting hikers so hot _they_ should be illegal" au. yes, this is vaguely based on a true story.
> 
> brought to you partially by the recent heatwave in nyc and partially by [the maynard ferguson cover of "hey jude"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wUeCX11no4%22) played on repeat for a full hour.

 

It’s too hot.

The sun is a bazooka blast of pure radiant energy and the air is a damp fog, weighing down on Bruce’s skin like a wool blanket that someone has dropped into a hot bath.  Every square inch of his skin is sweaty, including areas he hadn’t even realized _could_ sweat (the back of his _ears?  really?)_   His jeans are sticking to his calves, his T-shirt is sticking to his chest, his baseball cap is sticking to his forehead.  He wants to peel off a layer of skin and just lie down and never get up again.

For the hundredth time that morning, Bruce curses the inane combination of courage and stupidity that led him to this swamp in the middle of July, in long pants and hiking boots.

“Sure, I could try field work,” he mutters to himself, stomping through the tall grass.  “It’ll be fun.  An exciting change from the tedium of the lab.  I can spend a month in the forest looking for trees that probably don’t even grow there.  Why not.”

He swipes one hand up to swat at a mosquito, loses his balance, and steps right into a patch of mud.

_“Shit.”_

Bruce has already had to pull a shoe out of the muck once this morning – he’s not about to do it again.  He grabs a nearby birch for balance and yanks his leg up, clearing it with a wet _slllop._   His boot and the bottom of his jeans are covered in mud.  But, well, they kind-of were already.

The only thing keeping Bruce from stopping in his tracks, lying down, and letting the swamp take him is the reservoir a few meters ahead.  He’s been bushwhacking for at least an hour (though it’s hard to tell, time doesn’t quite work the same way in the middle of the forest) and gotten nowhere, but every contraction of his tired muscles will feel worth it once he hits that cool, clear water.  As he stomps forward, he closes his eyes and imagines he’s diving – first the tips of his fingers will go in, then his hands, then his arms, and then everything else, sweat and dirt washed away in seconds.

Fifty more steps, he estimates.  Then twenty.  Ten.  Five.  And then he’s hacking through the last thicket of knotweed, and then he’s _here_ – standing in front of the dam.

Sphagnum Pond is one of the smaller bodies of water at Red Oak Forest.  It stretches out from a low dam, stones cracked and uneven from age, and extends towards a sandy bank inaccessible from the nearby dirt road.  The water’s surface is smooth and static on this hot, muggy day, reflecting the surrounding rocks, maple trees, and cloudless sky far above like a massive mirror.  This pond isn’t a water source for the nearby town like Jones Reservoir, nor is it a home for fish and turtles like Laurel Pond.  It’s basically a huge, swampy mirror, too far from the science center to be a destination for school trips and too far from most of the big peaks to be a stopping point for most hikers.

That makes it the perfect place to go skinny dipping.

Bruce clambers on top of the dam, his sweaty hands almost too slippery to gain purchase on the rocks.  He’s slung off his backpack and is halfway to peeling off his shirt when he hears voices.

“Can’t we just go back?  It’s too hot for this.”

“But Loki!  We haven’t even seen any bears yet!”

Bruce slowly rolls his shirt back down, then takes a few steps along the dam.  At the other edge of the pond, near the road, he sees a small group of hikers: two guys and a girl, sitting with their shoes off, bare feet dangling just above the surface of the water.  He recognizes the voices – two brothers and a friend, all with weird names from Norse mythology, here on a day trip away from their internships in the city.  Bruce gave them directions to Hawk Cliff on his way to the pond a few hours ago.  He wasn’t expecting to see them here.

Another few steps, and Bruce can see that these hikers look just as fed up with the weather as he feels.  The tough girl with the long braid – Valkyrie, he thinks – has her shirt off and is straining her toes, trying to get them in the water.  The younger brother, who has long, greasy hair that can’t be any fun in this humidity, pushes away from the group and lies down on his back, putting his arm over his face.  And the older brother, tall and handsome with golden hair pulled into a ponytail that ninety-nine in a hundred guys couldn’t pull off, stands up and pulls off his own shirt – revealing a chest so toned, the sun seems to give each ab individual attention.

Bruce is suddenly very glad he’s standing all the way over here.

Bruce shakes his head quickly, clearing it from visions of abs, and takes a minute to evaluate the situation.  On the one hand, it’s really hot, and he’s been bushwhacking for an hour.  On the other hand, there are strangers here.  On the _other_ hand, he’ll probably never see them again.  On the other _other_ hand, if he never sees them again, one reckless thing could be their horrible impression of him forever.  On the other other _other_ hand… it’s _really fucking hot._

Yeah.  _Too fucking hot._

Bruce takes a few more steps along the dam, close enough to the hikers that he can see the way Tall And Handsome’s cargo shorts lay low on his hips… _focus, Banner.  Focus._

He takes a deep breath, cups his hands around his mouth, and shouts:

“Hey!  How do you feel about casual nudity?”

Time slows down and stops.  Just for a second.  Just here, at the edge of the pond.  Captured by the sheet of water, and the blanket of air, and the sun hovering far above.

Bruce swallows.  Waits for the dam to break and the dirt to swallow him whole.

Tall And Handsome takes a couple of steps in his direction.

“It’s cool!” he shouts back.

And just like that, the earth is moving again.

Bruce grins.  “Great.  ‘Cause I’m going to go swimming.”

And then before he can lose the nerve, he strips out of his T-shirt, kicks off his hiking boots, and shimmies out of his jeans.

He hears a _what_ and a _what the fuck_ and a cackling laugh that sounds like Tough Girl, but he tunes it out and keeps stripping.  Jeans.  Socks.  Underwear.  He lays it all out on the dam and stands there naked for a second, curling his toes over the rocks and wondering if this is how Adam and Eve felt, right after they swallowed that apple.  If they were real, that is.

Well, he’s come this far.  Bruce takes another breath, bends his knees…

And _dives._

And… yeah, this was definitely worth it.

The water is cold around him – god, he’d forgotten what it’s like to be _cold_ – melting the dirt and sweat, melting his skin and leaving him open.  Bruce takes a couple of strokes up to the surface of the pond then turns onto his back, closing his eyes and letting the water take him.  Like this, he isn’t a biology student worried he’s failing his first independent research project, or an awkward kid too self-conscious to tell some guy he finds him cute.  He’s just a collection of cells on top of another collection of cells.  Part of the landscape, part of the mountains and the sky.  Part of the oxygen exchange.

Bruce doesn’t hear anything from the dam for a while.  Some still-active cells in the back of his mind wonder if the hikers thought he was too weird and moved on.

_SPLASH._

_Splish-splosh-splush-splosh-splash._

“Hey.”

Bruce flips onto his stomach, suddenly coughing up water.

“Shit – sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Tall And Handsome says.  Because, yeah, Tall And Handsome is in the water too, now, his approximately ten million abs glistening in the clear water, and _yes_ holy _shit_ that is a _distinct lack of bathing suit_ underneath.

“Uh,” Bruce says.  The water is starting to feel slightly… warm.

“It just looked so nice,” Tall And Handsome goes on.  “And it’s just so _hot_ – I hoped you wouldn’t mind if I joined you.”

He’s a perfect human specimen.  If Bruce hadn’t been sure of that before, he certainly has conclusive evidence now.  Peer reviewed and everything.  But then, what kind of perfect human specimen uses phrases like _wouldn’t mind if I joined you?_   The guy is running a hand through his hair now – it’s come out of the ponytail and hangs like a stringy golden waterfall, a piece of seaweed caught by his ear.

“You’ve got –”  Bruce reaches out and then stops, suspended – what is he _doing_ , about to touch the _ear_ of a _strange man_ who is _naked_ in a pond with Bruce while _he is also naked_ – but _dude you’ve come this fucking far_ and he closes the distance, plucks the seaweed off and tosses it past them into the water.

Tall And Handsome’s hair is just as soft and silky as it looks, even when soaked with pondwater.  God help him.

“Oh.  Thanks.”

The guy grins – and hey, look at that, Bruce has forgotten how to tread water.

Tall And Handsome laughs at him, which is momentarily even worse before Bruce aims a splash in his direction out of sheer self-defense.  And then they’re engaged in all-out warfare, paddling out and in and doing splash-bys and all the other tactics Bruce thought he’d forgotten after his brief stint in outdoor summer camp at age ten.

By the time they call it a truce and swim back to the dam, Bruce’s right palm aches from slapping the water and his lungs ache from laughing.  The weather is just as hot and the air just as damp but he feels ready for it, stripped down and recreated like a snake that shed its old, dusty skin.

Tall And Handsome reaches the dam first and climbs up – _hello, ass_ – then extends a hand to Bruce.  His muscles contract as he pulls Bruce up, and Bruce marvels in this moment of suspension – his weight completely held in one of this guy’s huge hands.

Bruce stands up and just – stands there.  For a second.  He’s not sure his legs would know how to move properly if he gave them step by step instructions.

“This is gross,” Tough Girl says from somewhere behind him. “Just get his number already, Thor, so we can go back.”

_Thor._   Figures.  And then the rest of what she said hits – _get his number already._   By all normal rules of logic and social convention, that would imply – but there’s no way, there’s _no way_ – but _Bruce he’s literally already seen you naked hairy chest and all –_

“I, uh.”  Thor runs his hand through his hair again, twisting it into a loose braid.  He extends his other hand, then pulls it back.  “I don’t have anything to write it on.”

“I have a notebook in my backpack,” Bruce says.  And he nearly trips and falls off the dam running over to get it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm kinda thinking about extending this into a multichapter? lmk if y'all would be into that in comments or over on [the great light blue hellsite](https://twitter.com/owlinaminor).
> 
> **update, 8/12:** due to popular demand (and the fact that this au is fun as hell) i will indeed be extending this! i've got four more chapters planned, aiming for a total length of 10k. expect an update in the next week or so (/^▽^)/


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